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Krishna’s longing for Radha, from a Gita Govinda (Song of the Cowherd) of Jayadeva
c. 1820–25
- Medium
- Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 24.1 x 32.4 cm (9 1/2 x 12 3/4 in.); with mat: 40.6 x 53.2 cm (16 x 20 15/16 in.); with borders: 25.6 x 33.8 cm (10 1/16 x 13 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
In the lush forests on the banks of India’s Yamuna River, the youthful god Krishna waits to rendezvous with his beloved Radha. The artist has rendered his impatience by showing seven Krishnas, in various attitudes of anxious waiting, as though seeing him over a period of time. Meanwhile Radha, dressed in yellow at top right, confers seemingly endlessly with her confidante, as she tries to decide whether she should meet Krishna for the illicit tryst—she is already married and Krishna is prone to flirting with other girls. This scene is a metaphor for how god waits for us to come to him, while the human devotee frets about the bonds of social norms.
